$130 may get you a HRM, but that doesn't mean it's a serious fitness device.

Share this story

When Pebble made its last big product announcement, the company clearly wanted to focus on fitness. The new Pebble 2 and Time 2 devices are the first Pebble smartwatches to feature built-in heart rate monitors. Pebble also announced the tiny Core running computer. The Core has yet to be released, but customers who’ve been eager for a Pebble device with more fitness features are probably excited about these new watches.

In addition to the embedded heart rate monitor, the Pebble 2's UI is different from its predecessor as well. The new interface gives Pebble Health the same level of attention as its Timeline interface and adds on-watch text and call replies. Although the $130 Pebble 2 + HR integrates these new features well, the new watch still leaves much to be desired when it comes to fitness.

Design: Nods to the original

The Pebble 2 looks like a slightly modernized version of the original Pebble Classic. Measuring 1.5 x 1.2 x 0.4 inches, the rectangular smartwatch is made of polycarbonate with a hint of glass fiber, and it comes in a number of two-toned color options. My review unit is the aqua/white model that uses white throughout most of the case, sides (where the buttons sit), and the bezel, while the silicone band is in aqua. Weighing a mere .07 pounds (31.7 g), the Pebble 2 looks and feels like a toy, but not in a bad way. Anyone who was enamored with the original Pebble and didn't feel like springing for the upper-tier metal options (like the Time Steel) will enjoy this retro design.

Each Pebble 2 ships with its own 22mm soft-touch band, but the case can support any standard 22mm watch band. Since this is the first Pebble device with a built-in AMS optical heart rate monitor, those silicone bands are ideal for intense activity (as compared to more fashionable leather bands). The heart rate monitor is continuous, taking your pulse every few minutes throughout the day and in real-time while recording workouts. The Pebble 2 is water-resistant up to 30 meters, and The heart rate monitor will stay on while you're swimming, too. But keep in mind that swimming is not an activity included in Pebble Health for tracking; you'll have to use a third-party app like Swim.com to track that.

The monochrome, 1.26-inch, e-paper LCD complements the Pebble 2's design—the fancier Time 2 has a color display, but I found the black-and-white scheme balanced out the bright colors of the device itself. The scratch-resistant display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3, so it can withstand small bumps and dings. Most of the days I spent testing the Pebble were rainy and cloudy, so I cannot speak to its visibility in direct sunlight. However, the display was easy to read under the bright lights at my gym. Hugging the sides of the device are four buttons: the back button on the left side, and the upper, middle, and lower scroll-and-select buttons grouped on the right.

You might be wondering what happened to those "smart straps" that Pebble announced a while back. So am I. Pebble laid out guidelines for its developer community to create smart straps for its watches that could add features to the existing watch. So far not many have come out, and the Pebble 2 is only partially compatible with smart straps and doesn't provide power over the smart strap port. Pebble has also stated the slight bulge from the heart rate monitor may interfere with some smart straps, so the company is working on releasing 3D CAD files for those who want to make new smart straps. However, the Time 2 (without the heart rate monitor) is fully compatible with those developer-made straps.

Pebble has always been good about packing as much battery life into its watches as possible, and the Pebble 2 is no different. The company claims the watch can last up to a week on a single charge, and even with recording at least 30 minutes of exercise per day, my Pebble 2's battery was only down to 40 percent on day six.

The back button.

Valentina Palladino

The top, middle, and bottom select buttons.

Valentina Palladino

Each Pebble 2 + HR comes with a soft-touch silicone band.

Valentina Palladino

The new optical heart rate monitor.

Valentina Palladino

The e-paper display is easy to read thanks to its high-contrast black-and-white design.

Valentina Palladino

The app menu, which you can customize within the Pebble app.

Valentina Palladino

A notification pop-up on the watch.

Valentina Palladino

The Weather Channel app.

Valentina Palladino

Pebble Health is accessible via the upper select button.

Valentina Palladino

The watch shows your past week of activity.

Valentina Palladino

The heart rate monitor is continuous, and you can see recent HR measurements.

Valentina Palladino

The bottom select button opens the Timeline calendar view.

Valentina Palladino

You can now reply to and compose text messages from the watch.

Valentina Palladino

Features: A balancing act between fitness and life organization

Like I said before, the Pebble 2 is the first Pebble watch to be outfitted with an optical heart rate monitor, so it must be the company's way of answering requests for a more fitness-focused device. If you've used any other devices with optical heart rate monitors before, the Pebble 2 is really no different from the rest. It tracks your pulse throughout the day by taking periodic measurements that you can see at any time by pressing the upper select button that opens Pebble Health. The first screen shows your current step count, and you can press the middle select button to see calories burned, distance traveled, and activity bars that show how much you've been active each day for the past week.

Pressing the upper select button once more brings you to the heart rate screen, which shows you the last heart rate score the watch took and how many minutes ago it was taken. The monitor was always within 3 bpm of my manual reading. It also handled high heart rates decently: during a 30-minute run using both the Pebble 2 and the Apple Watch Series 2, Pebble's monitor was typically within 5 bpm of that on the Apple Watch. The Pebble 2 consistently read my heart rate as lower than the Apple Watch, and it was slow to catch up to Apple's smartwatch at times. For example, when the Apple Watch showed my heart rate as a steady 180 bpm in the midst of a run, the Pebble 2 took about five to ten seconds to level off at 175 bpm.

Pebble Health's Workout app is in the default list of apps on the watch, accessible by single-pressing the middle select button. I was disappointed to see that the only recordable exercises are running, walking, and "workout," which I just ended up using for anything that wasn't running or walking. Compared to the $370 Apple Watch Series 2—with its slew of workout profiles including an entirely separate list under "other" that includes sports and weight training choices—and even compared to Fitbit's newest $150 Charge 2, Pebble is seriously lacking in workout options. The Pebble 2 follows the archaic notion that fitness trackers are just running trackers or glorified pedometers, which has been disproven by devices like the aforementioned Apple Watch and Charge 2 and others like the (now discontinued) $200 Microsoft Band and the $250 Atlas Wearable.

To record a workout on the Pebble 2, just choose the type of exercise you're doing and press the upper select button to start. The Pebble's display shows you real-time heart rate measurements and the duration of the workout, but that's it. There are no extra screens either, so the device is limited in what you can track (and the data that you can see) in a workout. If you want more data, you have to download a third-party activity app from the Pebble app store within the general Pebble app. Popular app makers like Runtastic and Endomondo have a few programs available, but you will need those mobile apps installed on your smartphone to use them on the Pebble 2.

Aside from activity tracking, Pebble added some new software features. The new "smart actions" feature that was detailed when Pebble announced the new watches now appears to be lumped under Quick Launch in the UI. Customizable via the Settings app, Quick Launch lets you assign functions to all four of the Pebble 2's buttons that will then be accessible via a long-press. You can choose full apps or actions for the buttons, so you could have a long-press of the middle select button open the Yelp app while a long-press on the top select button lets you compose a text message. Using the buttons to open your four most-used tools frees you up to make tasks like putting the watch in quiet mode (preferably every night before you go to bed) much quicker. In a way, the new Pebble setup is similar to the Apple Watch's new dock in watchOS 3, but you're not limited to four apps on that device.

To accommodate Pebble Health access via the upper select button, Pebble's Timeline interface has changed slightly. Now you can only see events that are in your future by pressing the down select button; you used to be able to see past events by pressing the upper select button, but that feature is gone now. Some might see that as inconvenient, but I found myself only concerned with what meetings and events I had to look forward to that day, not what had already passed.

When synced to your smartphone, the Pebble 2 receives all your notifications. The app has a page where you can turn on or off notifications for each specific app, which is great if you only want to receive certain alerts to your wrist. Alerts fill up the entire watch face, and you can scroll to read the entire notification by using the side buttons. However, the most recent alert will stay on your watch display until you do something with it: you can dismiss it by pressing the middle select button, but that will only dismiss the most recent alert. If you have more than one in your notification queue, the next one populates the display immediately after you dismiss the first. To dismiss all of the alerts, you can long-press the middle select button. I ended up doing that a lot because I often wanted to check the time, but my last alert just sat there on the screen in my way until I got rid of it myself.

There are now also "peaking" notifications that are specific to your Timeline: when an event is coming up, the bottom third of the Pebble 2's display shows an alert for that event. That way you don't have to flip to the Timeline to check if you have something scheduled, but you also won't have a huge notification monopolizing watch face space. I enjoyed these peaking alerts, and I wish you could choose certain apps to present their notifications as peaking alerts.

A big new feature on the Pebble 2 is its ability to respond to and compose text messages. When you receive a text, it looks like a regular alert on the watch's display. Pressing the middle select button brings up a menu where you can respond via pre-fab messages, emojis, or by using voice dictation. You can edit your canned responses via the Pebble app, and I recommend using those rather than voice. When I tried to respond to one of my mother's texts using voice, the text was always a little off from what I said: "That's good, not watching anything" (my mom is always interested in what show I'm watching on TV) turned into "It's good I'll watch anything." Compared to the voice recognition on the Apple Watch, Pebble's is nowhere near as accurate or convenient. Also, you can't make phone calls from the Pebble 2, but you can send canned messages when someone calls you and you're unable to pick up.

The text reply feature has a few limitations that Pebble explains on its website: "Sending text or voice replies works with most major Android apps including SMS, Hangouts, Gmail, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp and hundreds more. Text or voice reply features for iPhone users are currently limited to SMS and only available to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile users in the US and mobile customers in Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom."

Another feature of note is music control, which lets you play, pause, skip, and control the volume for any music app you use, including Spotify.

Share this story

Valentina Palladino
Valentina reviews consumer electronics for Ars Technica, testing all kinds of gadgets with a focus on mobile devices and wearables. She has a soft spot for Chromebooks. Twitter@valentinalucia